Man a Machine
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MAS NEGATIVE NO . 93-80810-1 MICROFILMED 1993 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as part of the "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project" Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code - concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or other reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.*' If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. AUTHOR LA METTRIE , JULIEN OFFRAY DE TITLE: MAN A MACHINE . PLACE: CHICAGO DATE: 1912 Master Negative # COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARCFT Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record t Philosophy L'hornr.c-rrachine. Eng. |. D194L18 La Mettrie, Julien Oflfray de, 1709-1751. Man a inaclnnc, by .hilien OJrniy do La MclLrie. Frencli- Kn^riish. Including Fitideiick tlie Great's "Eulogy" on La ]!kIettrio and extracts from La Mettrie's "The natural history of the soul"; pliilosoi)hical and historical notes by Gertrude Carman Busscy ... Chicnfro, Tlie Open court pubhshinir co., 1912. 5 p. I.. i3|, 210 p.'incl. facslm. front, (port.) 22J cm. "The KrcMicli frxt prosentod In tills vohiiuo Is tnkc?n from timt of a eiiltlon Lpyden of 1748 ... The title pn^e of this edltiim Is reproduced in the piestMit volunio."— Pref. (Continued on next curd) |54olj Restrictions on Use: TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA FILM SIZE:__^^_4i^ REDUCTION RATIO: ii]C_ IMAGE PLACEMENT: I I] IB IID DATE FILMED: UJ2rXhl3_ INITIALS__(|l/i^ ""' HLMEDBY: RESEARCI^I PUBLICATIONS. INC WOODDRIDGE. CT Master Negative # COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record Philosophy L'hoifune-machinG, Eng, L*horrime machine. Eng.t; D194L18 ' T La Mettrie, Jullen Offray de, 1709-1751. Man a machine ... r.a Vettrie, Jnlien Offray de, 1709-1751. tlan 1912. (Card 2) a manhin'^ ... 1912, (Card 3) The translation is founded on a version made by Miss Gertrude C. Bussey (from the French text In the edition of J. Assezat) and has been revised by Professor M. W. Calkins, who is responsible for it in D194L18 Cory in %rnard. 1943. its present form. cf. Pref. T "Works consulted and cited In the notes" : p. i205i-207. 1 Pliyslology—Early works to 1800. 2. Materialism. 3. Mind and boilp. I. Bussey, Gertrude Carman, ffeS- vl CalTcins, Mary Writon, 1SG3-1930, tr. in. Frledrlch ii, der GrosseTlclng of Prussia, 1712 1786. IV. Title. 13—4432 Liorary of Congress B20<h3.H53C3 ^ ^ , c50nlj ^i ••••VPIBMHal Kestrictions on Use: TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA FILM SIZE: ^l_6jiiToQi_ REDUCTION RATIO: H^ IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA, (^ IB IIB DATE FILMED: _liiXil3 INITIALS g_6_£ FILMED BY: RESEARCHTUBLlCATIONS. INC WOODBRIDGE. cf D ,%. Association for information and Image Management 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 \ Centimeter 12 3 4 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 mm mi iiiilniiliiiilniiliiiiliiiilmilini lllillllMlllilllMllllilllMllllilllimilillliliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiil iiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiii LIU Ml TTT TTT I I I I I I TTT TTT 1 Inches Urn 2.8 2.5 1.0 2.2 2.0 I.I 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 MPNUFPCTURED TO fillM STflNDflRDS BY APPLIED IMAGE, INC. » \ HIMMSMMMMSM I THE LIBRARIES 1 it 1 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 Philosophy Library 1 1 1 1 1 i I ( 9 1 •/'. MAN A MACHINE 1 1 BY JULIEN OFFRAY DE LA METTRIE rRENCH-BNGLISH INCLUDING FREDERICK THE GREATS "EULOGY" ON LA METTRIE AND EX- TRACTS FROM LA METTRIE'S "THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SOUL" PHILOSOPHICAL AND HISTORICAL NOTES BT GERTRUDE CARMAN BUSSEY M. A., WBLLS8LBT COI.LBGB JULIEN OFFRAY DE LA METTRIE (1709-1751) CHICAGO THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING CO. 1912 ' f MAN A MACHINE BT ' t JULIEN OFFRAY DE LA METTRIE FRENCH-ENGLISH «* INCLUDING FREDERICK THE GREAT'S "EULOGY" ON LA METTRIE AND EX- "•^kW6- TRACTS FROM LA METTRIE'S '*THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SOUL" PHILOSOPHICAL AND HISTORICAL NOTES BY GERTRUDE CARMAN BUSSEY M. A., WSLLI8LBT COLLEGE JULIEN OFFRAY DE LA METTRIE (1709-1751) CHICAGO THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING CO. 1912 i \ .J v TABLE OF CONTENTS. \ PAGB Preface v Frederic the Great's Eulogy on Julien Offray De La Mettrie i UHomme Machine . ii Man a Machine 83 The Natural History of the Soul : Extracts 151 COmUGRTBT 163 THE OPEN COURT PUBUSHING Ca Appendix La Mettrie's Relation to His Predecessors and to His Successors 165 Outline of La Mettrie's Metaphysical Doctrine . .175 Notes 176 Works Consulted and Cited in the Notes .... 205 Index 209 J 1 -am \ / PREFACE. is taken from French text presented in this volume THE words, from that that of a Leyden edition of I748» in other the place of issue of an edition pubHshed in the year and in this edition is reproduced of the first edition. The title page of evidently the work of in the present volume. The original was language, and a Dutch compositor unschooled in the French grammatical blun- is full of imperfections, inconsistencies, and 1 I' obviously typo- ders. By the direction of the publishers these Arreat graphical blunders have been corrected by M. Lucien of Paris. founded The translation is the work of several hands. It is the on a version made by Miss Gertrude C. Bussey (from been revised French text in the edition of J. Assezat) and has by Professor M. W. Calkins who is responsible for it in its Col- present form. Mademoiselle M. Carret, of the Wellesley Santayana, of lege department of French, and Professor George Harvard University, have given valued assistance; and this in solving opportunity is taken to acknowledge their kindness submitted to the problems of interpretation which have been sometimes sub- them. It should be added that the translation effort ordinates the claims of English structure and style in the paragraphing of to render La Mettrie's meaning exactly. The the capitals the French is usually followed, but the italics and re- are not reproduced. The page-headings of the translation in- fer back to the pages of the French text; and a few words serted by the translators are enclosed in brackets. and The philosophical and historical Notes are condensed adapted from a master's thesis on La Mettrie presented by Miss Bussey to the faculty of Wellesley College. ) t tl 1 FREDERIC THE GREAT'S EULOGY ON JULIEN OFFRAY DE LA METTRIE. ' ^' * ; t-u FREDERIC THE GREAT'S EULOGY ON JULIEN OFFRAY DE LA METTRIE. JULIEN Offray de la Mettrie was born in Saint Malo, on the twenty-fifth of December, 1709, to Julien Offray de la Mettrie and Marie Gaudron, who were living by a trade large enough to provide a good education for their son. They sent him to the college of Coutance to study the humanities ; he went from there to Paris, to the college of Plessis he studied his rhetoric at Caen, and since he had much genius and imagination, he won all the prizes for eloquence. He was a born orator, and was pas- sionately fond of poetry and belles-lettres, but his father thought that he would earn more as an ec- clesiastic than as a poet, and destined him for the church. He sent him, the following year, to the college of Plessis where he studied logic under M. Cordier, who was more a Jansenist than a logician. It is characteristic of an ardent imagination to seize forcefully the objects presented to it, as it is characteristic of youth to be prejudiced in favor of the first opinions that are inculcated. Any other scholar would have adopted the opinions of his teacher but that was not enough for young La Mettrie; he became a Jansenist, and wrote a work which had great vogue in that party. / MAN A MACHINE. FREDERIC THE CREATES EULOGY. 5 progress In 1725, he studied natural philosophy at the those who have reputations, to oppose the on college of Harcourt, and made great progress there. of budding geniuses. This blight often fastens sometimes On his return to Brittany, M. Hunault, a doctor of talents without destroying them, but it Saint Malo, had advised him to adopt the medical injures them. M. La Mettrie, who was advancing suffered profession. They had persuaded his father, assuring in the career of science at a giant's pace, him him that a mediocre physician would be better paid from this jealousy, and his quick temper made for his remedies than a good priest for absolutions. too susceptible to it. of At first young La Mettrie had applied himself to In Saint Malo, he translated the "Aphorisms" "Chemical the study of anatomy : for two years he had worked Boerhaave, the "Materia Medica," the "In- at the dissecting-table. After this, in 1725, he took Proceedings," the "Chemical Theory," and the same the degree of doctor at Rheims, and was there re- stitutions," by this same author. About the ceived as a physician. abstract of Sydenham. The time, he published an ^ In 1733, he went to Leyden to study under the fa- young doctor had learned by premature experience, better to mous Boerhaave.